Australian defence, police, international armies flex military might on Sydney waters during Exercise Pacific Protector 2024

Sydney Harbour was centre stage when military personnel from around the world worked together to counter illicit trade of weapons of mass destruction.

Defence agencies from around the globe descended on Sydney Harbour as part of a military exercise to counter the illicit trade of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

Australia hosted Exercise Pacific Protector 2024 as a training opportunity for countries aligned to the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) in an effort to impede illicit WMD-related trade in the Indo-Pacific region.

Military personnel and police carried out a series of tasks as part of Exercise Pacific Protector. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

Officers boarded the HMAS Gascoyne as part of the boarding exercises. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

During a joint exercise on Thursday, personnel from the Australian Defence Force, Japan, Republic of Korea and the US as well as the Australian Federal Police and NSW Police Force boarded the board the HMAS Gascoyne.

The exercise focused on personnel boarding the vessel from a rubber dingy before carrying out further training on-board.

The HMAS Gascoyne was used for one of the training exercises. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

Personnel worked together in ship boarding exercises and training procedures. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

Defence personnel from 28 countries engaged in academic sessions, a tabletop exercise, boarding exercises, demonstrations and other training activities.

ADF first assistant secretary for strategic policy Sheridan Kearnan said the joint training effort allowed PSI partners to build networks, tools and capabilities aimed at enhancing capacity and interoperability.

Officers were able to practise scenarios. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

“The exercise provides an opportunity to practice scenarios and improve mechanisms for sharing intelligence, aligning decision-making processes and deploying capabilities and assets for interdiction operations,” Dr Kearnan said.

“It sends a clear signal to proliferators that their activities are being monitored and PSI partners are prepared to take individual or collaborative action to stop illicit WMD proliferation.”

The 28 participating countries are Argentina, Australia, Chile, Cook Islands, Fiji, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Philippines, Poland, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, Turkiye, United Arab Emirates, the UK, the US and Vietnam.

Originally published as Australian defence, police, international armies flex military might on Sydney waters during Exercise Pacific Protector 2024